The new issue of The Blue Mountain Review is now up, and it includes an essay of mine titled “Stepping Back / Stepping Forward” (on page 26) which discusses my month-long experience of stepping away from social media this summer to focus on writing. The break was a great way to re-focus, but I also found that stepping away from a few other things like Netflix, poetry readings, and even magazine submissions (yes, you read that right) also helped be move forward with the writing goals I set out for myself this year. You can read the essay, along with a ton of great poems, columns, and interviews, inside the new issue of The Blue Mountain Review, created by the folks over at the Southern Collective Experience. Thanks!

Editorial Note: The Bookshop "Reviews" express my own thoughts and feelings on shops based upon first impression visits. The Bookshop "Interviews" express the thoughts and feelings solely of those interviewed, and I have made the choice to not censor any viewpoints, be they positive or negative, for the sake of representing candid individual expression about our love, distaste, impressions, and complex relationships with bookshops in our own communities. I encourage all readers to visit the shops represented here and decide for themselves how they feel about each!